Star Dunes in Algeria As Seen From Orbit

The image was acquired by the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) on NASA's Terra satellite on October 27, 2012.

It was made from a combination of near-infrared and visible light. In this type of false-color image, sand is tan and shadows are black or gray. The blue-tinted areas are likely mineral-rich evaporites. The image is centered at 29.8*north latitude, 7.9°east longitude, near the town of Gadamis.

As is common with star dunes, some of the dunes have long interlacing arms connecting to nearby dunes. NASA image courtesy NASA/GSFC/METI/ERSDAC/JAROS, and U.S./Japan ASTER Science Team. Caption by Adam Voiland.